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Republican Reeves wins special election to Tennessee Senate

NASHVILLE (AP) — Republican Shane Reeves has won a special election to fill a vacant seat in the Tennessee Senate.

In unofficial results from the Tennessee secretary of state, Reeves had 13,139 votes to 5,179 for Democrat Gayle Jordan in Tuesday's election.

Reeves is CEO of Murfreesboro-based TwelveStone Health Partners. He defeated former Rep. Joe Carr in the special Republican primary in January.

Jordan, a Rutherford County farmer and lawyer, was unopposed in the primary. Reeves made Jordan's atheism an issue in the race and told The Tennessean he believed "her views are radical." Jordan said the matter wasn't a focus of her campaign.

At a campaign party on Tuesday, Jordan acknowledged that she hoped for a different outcome.

"We're disappointed in the results but we couldn't be prouder of the campaign that we ran," she told The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro.

Senate Speaker Randy McNally said in a statement Tuesday night that Reeves' win and another Senate GOP victory "prove that any blue wave will hit a big, red seawall in Tennessee."

State Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden said in a statement that the election "shows that voters see the results of Tennessee's Republican leadership — increased economic opportunity, expanded access to education, and record low unemployment rates."

The 14th District includes Bedford, Lincoln, Marshall, Moore and eastern Rutherford counties.

The seat opened in November when Republican Jim Tracy resigned to serve as state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development office.

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